I stroked my hard dick again through the fabric of my pants and stepped toward Manda. My toys were arranged on a table just behind her. The first to catch my eye was the electric wand.
Picking it up, I flipped the safety switch off and let the tip run across her soft skin. Over her hip, up along her ribcage, across the rise of her breast … When the tip touched the ring in her nipple, I bathed in her terrified gaze. That was what I had been waiting to see again.
“This is what happens to you when things don’t go my way.”
I pressed the button on the wand and sent a painful shock through her system.
Manda’s scream cut through the room and was joined by the other female’s cry as Lily brought the cat-o-nine down for its first stroke.
The shards in the whip tore through the soft tissue on the back of the woman’s thighs. Tiny red droplets began to bead and roll down her white skin.
I grabbed Manda’s chin and jerked it toward me. Her lavender eyes were wide, her pain evident. No glassy wall of separation. She was feeling every lick of the wand and cringing each time her friend screamed in pain. Tears ran down her cheeks, but she still managed to meet my gaze and beg a favor.
“Please let her go.”
The words were so soft, so pitiful, I considered it for half a second. Then shook my head.
“Her death will be a warning. Your people better find my dagger soon or she won’t be the only one you lose.”
Chapter Three
EIRA
“Come on!” The scent of diesel fuel hung in the breeze. The caravan of Humvees wasn’t far behind, and this asshole was wasting precious time. Time we could not afford.
“There’s no way you can jump that,” the male Lycan snarled, pointing at the fifty-foot-high electric-wire fence that encircled the entire Republic of Texas.
“I jumped the bloody thing to come and rescue you, and I’ve jumped it on more than one occasion to bring others back.” My voice rose in pitch, as did my urge to pick up the male and punt him over the fence like a football. I didn’t have time for this. The SECR soldiers were only a few minutes behind us. If we didn’t cross the fence in the next minute or two, they’d be shooting at us again. Unlike myself, my companion was not immune to bullets.
In all my years of working with the Mason Pack to rescue stranded Lycans, he wasn’t the first reluctant refugee, and he wouldn’t be the last, but he was one of the more annoying ones.
“You’re a vampire. Why would I ever trust you?”
“Mother of the gods, man. Perhaps because I broke your sorry ass out of a SECR lockup and saved you from being executed.” My fangs descended, and I growled. I was nearly ready to jump the fence and leave his ungrateful, although cute, butt to fend for himself. I’d never hear the end of it if I did, though.
“Why did they shame me by sending a vampire? Why didn’t my own kind come for me?”
“Perhaps because I can jump the bloody wall and they can’t!” My body twitched, and I rolled my shoulders trying to release some pent-up frustration. His sweaty masculine scent filled my nostrils, and I breathed deeply. Hunger swelled within me, a sea monster rising from the depth of the ocean, and I knew my eyes were ringed with red by the way his eyebrows raised in response.
I never drank from Lycans. I’d made a promise to the Mason Pack years ago, and I had honored it since. Even though I wanted to scream and drain this wolf to teach him a lesson, I would not. The lesson part was definitely going to happen, however.
Drawing my sword from its sheath, I blurred to his side and struck him with the blunt hilt. He crumpled to the ground with a heavy thud. It would’ve been easier to carry him conscious; unconscious bodies were so much harder to maneuver.
Running with him over my shoulder all the way to Ada was going to cost me dearly. But sometimes the price had to be paid. The Lycan pack was my family.
And I would do anything for those I considered family.
With a focused effort, I leaped and cleared the electric wires of the Texas Republic border fence. A few minutes later, I’d traveled several hundred miles and put on the brakes just as I hit the porch of the Mason lodge in Ada.
“Someone come take this dumb ass wolf from me before I eat him!” I strained to ignore the warm body over my shoulder, but his scent filled my lungs. My fangs descended, and I licked my lips. Hunger reared its head. I desperately needed to feed. But it would have to wait.
The screen door of the lodge shot open and slammed into the wall as two large Lycan males barreled out.
“What happened?” Chad asked, coming out the door behind the two bigger males.
I handed off the unconscious male to them and turned to Chad. “The idiot wouldn’t let me pick him up to jump the fence. So I knocked him out and carried him.”
The younger male laughed, and I hissed at him, effectively making his mouth snap shut like a triggered bear trap.
“Tell him I expect an apology when he wakes or I’ll take his ass back to Arkansas territory and leave him there for the SECR troops that were hot on our trail.”
All three Lycans nodded soberly before hauling the unconscious sack-of-potatoes into the lodge.
I waved and disappeared down the road. Several quiet neighborhoods provided a convenient hunting ground a few miles away. The time it took to locate a human outside in a secluded area still trumped larger towns where more people had cameras and every street was monitored.
Technically, I wasn’t supposed to feed from the citizens of the Texas Republic, but if I didn’t feed soon, I’d end up killing someone or worse — killing multiple someones.
Keeping the peace was a priority, but with a houseful of wolves that wouldn’t feed me, keeping the thirst at bay was a rather delicate matter. I loved the Mason pack. Loved Charlie like the sister I’d never had, but my soul longed for a place where I would truly belong and be accepted.
Even though most of the pack tolerated me, only a few were friendly.
***
“I plan to return to Ada in a couple days,” Harrison Bateman spoke as I stood to walk to the front of his bus. “Will that work for you, hon?” The old warlock’s private greyhound bus fleet was the safest way for Others to travel in this area. He and several of his extended family ran routes all through the Texas Republic. The local TR police knew who he was and left him alone.
I smiled, grabbing hold of the bar near the stairs as the vehicle came to a stop. “Oh, I’m staying a couple weeks. I told Charlie I needed a break.”
He shook his head. “What you and the Mason pack do to help rescue Others is heroic.”
“They don’t deserve to be butchered. It’s the right thing to do,” I murmured. If it wasn’t for the inside information on troop movement from Manda, we would be easy pickings for the SECR soldiers. The last run out of the east had cost the pack dearly. Even with Diana helping to fight in her dragon form, we’d lost several people.
Rescues in and out of the other Republics were less than troublesome. Most didn’t have very large armies. A few, like the Washington Republic, had a huge army. However, as long as we didn’t go in, they never seemed to come out.
The SECR was another beast altogether. It was secretly controlled by Xerxes, one of the most powerful Others on the planet. It almost brought a smile to my lips to think how those racist human scum would react if they knew who was pulling the strings in their government.
“I think some of us refuse to believe how bad it’s gotten. They think it’s possible to continue living where and how they always have,” I added.
“It’s hard to truly stay hidden now, with all the tech in place to sniff us out. Did you hear that the Washington Republic is testing new DNA scanners? Meredith told me she saw a news report at Riley’s last month. How the hell do we have a chance if that happens?”
I nodded, dread creeping into my mind. Things would get uglier faster if tech like that was allowed to circulate. Last year in a tight spot, the pack was almost trapped. If it hadn’t been for th
e father of one of the little girls we were pulling out of Atlanta sacrificing himself, none of us would’ve made it out alive –myself included.
We owed that man our lives, and the whole pack adopted his little girl and did their best to make her feel as loved as possible. But nothing would ever make up for the loss of her father. If only he would’ve taken her and left when all the new laws started being enforced... So many lives could have been spared if people had just taken the changes seriously.
When the US broke into five republics, those of us who had been alive long enough to have seen other countries rise and fall knew to roll with the punches and move with the flow. If the Texas Republic hadn’t chosen to be Pro-Other, we all would’ve left for Canada, Mexico, or just returned to Europe.
It was easier to hide in Europe. It always had been. Legends of Others were an integral part of their history. When the truth came out about supernaturals’ existence, most of them took it in stride because Others were firmly embedded in the European governments. They made sure no one panicked Also, if you were friendly and stayed out of their business, they were happy to live business-as-usual. Plus, Others had a firm hand in most European governments.
Leaving a land that had spoiled you for three hundred years was hard. The United States had been a hub of excitement and freedoms. Now it rivaled what Nazi Germany had been like, executing anyone who didn’t fit in. Hell, I’d seen Republic soldiers shoot humans just because they suspected them of harboring Others.
“Eira?”
I glanced up and met Harrison’s gaze.
“Sorry, just thinking.” I stepped down the few stairs to the pavement outside the bus. Harrison followed right behind me.
“How is little Terri?” Somehow, he intuitively knew what was on my mind. A strange skill for a human, even if he was a warlock.
“She’s doing okay, I suppose, for a six-year-old that lost her only parent. Hannah and Meredith help by visiting often. She learns a great deal from them.”
He closed the bus door behind him and nodded his head.
“You should come visit her,” I said, stepping onto the sidewalk.
A sigh fell from his lips. “She cries when I come by. Perhaps when she’s older, if she needs something the girls can’t handle, I’ll step in. For now, I’ll just give her space.”
“Eira!” A familiar, light female voice carried through the nippy breeze.
“Talk to you soon, Harrison.”
He nodded and pulled his coat a little tighter around his neck. “Don’t freeze,” he said and winked before walking off.
I snorted a laugh. I wore a thin black hoodie, not so much for the warmth, but so that people didn’t immediately question why I wasn’t dressed for the chilly January weather.
I turned and faced my friend. Diana was rapidly approaching, and I opened my arms to embrace her as she reached me.
“It’s so good to see you. I wasn’t sure you would come back again after everything that happened.” She squeezed me tightly, and I chuckled.
“Nothing could keep me away from you, D,” I answered. But she was right. Avoiding the town and the conversation Rose wanted to have about my supposed destiny had kept me away. If not for my friendship with the female iced dragon, there were endless amounts of excuses to never visit again. But D was pregnant, and that was enough to pull me back.
“Are you hungry?” She pulled away and studied me carefully.
I grimaced. She could always tell how recently ago I’d fed, like she could sense my blood’s viscosity. The longer I went between feedings, the thinner it became.
“I’m fine. Let’s go get you something to eat at the cafe. I could hear your stomach rumbling from up the street,” I lied. I hadn’t been listening earlier, but her stomach was definitely grumbling now.
“We’ll both eat,” she answered. “It’s breakfast time anyway.”
A moment later, we entered the Rose’s cafe and grabbed a seat in one of the wooden booths against the far wall. The bright teal tabletops brought a friendly upbeat vibe to the vintage country cafe. A mixture of chrome and teal were the main accents throughout the room, and an old nineteen-fifties jukebox against the far wall completed the scene.
“Hey! Your vampire friend is back,” Maven said, stepping up to our table. “You drinking, Eira?”
I started to shake my head, but Diana cut in. “Yes, bring an empty glass for her. I’ll have some water, please.”
“Sure thing. Plate of sticky buns to start you off?”
Diana nodded, and the purple-haired Pixie left the table. I followed her movements through the cafe, around the counter, and into the kitchen.
“Purple again?”
“It’s her favorite color. She changes it a lot, but she always returns to purple. Or so I’ve been told. Apparently, most of the Pixies change their hair color like we change our clothes.”
“Good to know.” I leaned backward in the booth and looked my friend up and down. She appeared healthy. A nice pink glow brightened her skin, and her blue eyes shimmered with life. Seeing her in control of her magick and not afraid was satisfying. She’d changed so much in the short time I’d known her.
The Pixie returned with a plate of warm, gooey sticky buns, a glass of ice water, and another empty glass. The scent of the cinnamon and honey mixture was tantalizing, even for me. Nutritionally, the food wouldn’t benefit me, but neither would it hurt me. Besides, those buns just begged to be tasted.
“You can have one if you want,” Diana said.
I glanced up and caught the flash of laughter in her eyes.
“Maybe just a little bite.” I reached for one of the smaller buns and lifted it to my lips. The honey and cinnamon coated my tongue, and I smiled, truly enjoying the flavors.
“Well?”
I swallowed the rest of the bun with a moan of pleasure and then licked the remnants from my fingers. “I haven’t tasted something that good in my entire life.” That said a lot, because I had been around awhile.
She grinned and nodded, taking one of the buns from the plate and biting a chunk out of it. “All the food here is amazing. Rose and the Brownies are the best cooks.”
“More than one Brownie lives here?” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Most of the time, Brownies lived solitary lives, only meeting from time to time to procreate. Brownies didn’t have children the way most human and supernaturals did, either. A male and a female just met up, used some magick, and poof another full-grown brownie appeared.
“Yes, according to Corinne, the head cook, about a dozen families live in the town.”
“What else have you found out?”
The cafe door swung open, ringing the little brass bell above it. Calliope Hart strolled in, wearing an off-the-shoulder cream-colored sweater, painted-on jeans, and furry boots. Her long dark hair was braided down the side and hung mid-way down her back. She had a large paper shopping bag from her store in hand. When she caught my gaze, her face broke into a smile.
“So glad you’re here to stay for a while, Eira. I know Diana has really missed you,” she said, strolling to the table and sliding the bag filled with clothes next to me before sitting down on the booth seat next to Diana. “I brought you a few things. Diana said you didn’t have much and were planning to stay several weeks. Figured you wouldn’t want to wear the same thing every single day.”
“Thanks, Calliope.” I tugged at a few items in the top of the bag and sighed. I loved new clothes and missed going to the mall and shopping. I missed not wearing weapons as an accessory to every outfit. “They are really nice. You didn’t have to, though. What I have on is—”
“Very black,” Calliope finished.
Diana laughed. “Hand me one of your daggers, Eira. I know you have a dragon steel one on you somewhere.”
I pulled the small dagger from its sheath on my thigh and handed it across the table to my friend. There really was no point in arguing with her. If she didn’t feed me, one of her husbands would.
She took the dagger, held her forearm over the empty glass, and sliced it enough for blood to run. The scent of her blood made me heady. The soft intake breaths of two other vampires in the café let me know I wasn’t the only one affected. I turned my head and caught sight of Bailey and Erick sitting at a large table, along with several men I didn’t recognize. The other men were downing forkfuls of eggs and potato hash, so not vampires, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint what they were by scent — something rare. And they weren’t the same, either. Each man was unique.
I returned my focus to Calliope and Diana. The glass was half full, and Diana was cleaning off my dagger. She’d already sealed the wound on her arm with a puff of her icy breath. I couldn’t even tell that she’d cut it a moment ago. Rotating the dagger in her hand, she handed it to me across the table, hilt first, before pushing the glass closer.
“Who is that with Bailey and Erick?” I thumbed over my shoulder.
Calliope glanced and smiled. Alek and Jared are the acting sheriff and fire marshal for the town. Very broody, but good men.”
“What are they?”
“Gryphon and a Phoenix. Not many of them left in the world.”
I nodded. They were the first I’d come across in a thousand years.
“I never noticed the necklace you’re wearing. Is it new?” Calliope asked, helping herself to a sticky bun from the plate in the center of the table.
Chapter Four
EIRA
I covered the medallion at my neck with my fingers, rubbing the stone in the center, and shook my head. “I’ve had it since before I was a vampire. It was a gift from a man I loved.” Pain gripped my heart. Even after so many years had passed, I missed him more than anything. I’d never been able to let another man into my life —not on a long-term basis, anyway.
“What was his name?” Diana asked, her eyes holding understanding.
My Eternal Soldier Page 2